Lasiodiplodia species associated with dieback disease of mango (Mangifera indica) in Egypt

Lasiodiplodia theobromae is a plurivorouspathogen of tropical and subtropical woody and fruit trees.In 2010, an investigation of mango plantations in Egyptresulted in the isolation of 26 Lasiodiplodia isolates that,based on previous reports from literature, were tentativelyidentified as L. theobromae. The aim of this study was toclarify the taxonomy of these isolates based on morphologyand DNA sequence data (ITS and TEF1-α). In addition to L.theobromae, a new species, namely L. egyptiacae, wasidentified. Furthermore, L. pseudotheobromae is alsonewly recorded on mango in Egypt. Pathogenicity testswith all recognised species showed that they are able tocause dieback disease symptoms on mango seedlings.